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“We have had some small problems in the team in the past but everything is sorted now. It?óÔé¼Ôäós all agreed between him and Paddy and everyone else. He?óÔé¼Ôäós No.1. I have tried to persuade him to stay. I want him to stay. We will talk again at the end of the season.”

“Sean Edwards, current Porsche Supercup championship leader and stunt driver in the recent blockbuster film Rush has died after a car carrying him as passenger crashed into a barrier and burst into flames at the Queensland Raceway in Australia.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “I was and am genuinely surprised that the stewards penalised me for the pass on Sutil. When my engineer told me I?óÔé¼Ôäód picked up a penalty, it never crossed my mind it was for that. Earlier in the race when I was out-of-sequence on the hard tyre I?óÔé¼Ôäód collected a big train of cars behind me so I thought perhaps I?óÔé¼Ôäód done something dirty then.”

“Alexander Rossi will drive in the first practice session at next month?óÔé¼Ôäós U.S. Grand Prix, becoming the first American to participate in a Formula One race weekend in six years, the American-Statesman has learned.”

“In amongst this chaos an ecstatic Esteban Gutierrez was celebrating his first points in F1. He arrived at the interview pen, had a few chats and was half way through answering my question when someone ran up to him shouting ‘scales, scales’ and the Mexican had to run off to get weighed!”

“It hurts like hell. If you haven’t ever won a grand prix or won a world championship it doesn’t hurt quite as much but when you have been there and that’s where you normally are, at least fighting for a world championship, even though it hasn’t happened for a while, it really does hurt.”

“The mechanics, engineers, and of course the drivers all need to be functioning at full efficiency as of Thursday of a race weekend. What about jet lag? How can its negative effects on performance be eliminated, or at least reduced? And are any of these solutions applicable to us? Well there?óÔé¼Ôäós good news ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ and what?óÔé¼Ôäós more, there are actually several ways to fight against jet lag.”

“Although there is some hope of the event returning in 2015, this would require significant lobbying on the part of promoters, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, and the Indian government. That such an effort is worthwhile is beyond doubt.”

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sad period in the racing world due to the loss of maria de vilota and sean edwards whom i went to school with #JaramaMarÃ­adeVillota

Happy birthday!

On this day in F1

Tony Rolt was born on this day in 1918, a few weeks before the end of World War One. Before making three appearances in Grand Prix races he fought in World War Two during which time he was captured and imprisoned in the famous Colditz Castle prisoner of war camp near Dresden.

He resumed his racing activities after the war and was on the grid for the first ever round of the world championship at Silverstone in 1950. His other two F1 starts also came at British Grands Prix in 1953 and 1955, after which he retired from competition. He passed away in 2008.

RIP Sean Edwards. I saw the movie Rush the other day and the scene he was in was wonderfully executed. I heard about his crash locally, at least he was doing what he loved, as well as sharing his passion and knowledge with another driver. Such a shame, he’d just become engaged as well.

I hate to rain on Dans’ parade but watching the pass I immediately thought “damm he’ll have to give that back” then I thought why haven’t they (team) told him to give it back and why haven’t the commentators commented on him not giving it back. No one could dispute that Dan was of the track so how did so many knowledgeable people think the stewards would let it pass, obviously there must be some room for interpretation in what I thought was a simple, clear rule, please, if you know the rule, explain to me why it was unclear to so many people that the pass could not be allowed.

I think the problem is that his entire car was ahead of Sutil when he left the track. Usually leaving the track while next to or behind the car in front and then gaining an advantage by passing said car (such as Alonso on Kubica at the 2010 British GP, or the more controversial example of Hamilton and Raikkonen at Spa ’08). In the past a car has passed another car, then immediately gone off track and kept position with no penalty – I’m thinking of Vettel’s move on Button in Australia 2011.

Ricciardo’s penalty is consistent with Hamilton being forced to return the place to Massa in Singapore, so maybe the stewards are now sticking to a coherent approach and fining policy to these incidents, but I think many have an issue with the Ricciardo penalty because, as I’ve outlined, it’s not entirely clear how the stewards at any given race will handle such moves.

Thanks, I guess that is somewhat of a grey area and apparently the stewards are no longer telling the driver to give the place back but going straight to a penalty, which I do think is harsh, on the other hand outbraking a driver before a corner and having to run off the track as a result cannot be allowed, I can’t recall if this was the case with Dan, I didn’t think so at the time.

Yeah I wasn’t 100% sure that Ricciardo was given any message, but maybe Keith’s excellent radio transcripts will tell us more about that. It’s a pretty bad step if stewards are skipping straight to the penalty without allowing drivers to correct the mistake.

If true then it’ll be easier to wait for the magic DRS button, instead of trying a more entertaining move at another part of the track and risk a penalty.

As far as I’m aware, the stewards only really hand out that instruction if it’s unclear who has right if way. In Ricciardo’s case, it was probably expected that he would recognise the situation on his own and would not need a prompt.

I was surprised he didn’t give it back too, but as to the stewards giving him the chance to do so rather than a penalty, IIRC he overtook someone else not too long afterwards, so they might not have had that option in fairness.

I think the problem is that his entire car was ahead of Sutil when he left the track. Usually leaving the track while next to or behind the car in front and then gaining an advantage by passing said car

I get what you mean, but consider the application for this in braking zones. Many circuits have excessive tarmac run-off. Deliberately braking way too late would mean you got ahead on track before leaving the circuit potentially avoiding a penalty by using that method of thinking.

The stewards were definitely right to penalise him. I think they need to clarify the time an overtake begins and ends. For example Riciardo left the track after overtaking through 130R; for me this overtake could fairly be described as starting at the exit of Spoon and ending at the Chicane. During the manouver he left the circuit after making a pass, and before finishing the overtake. Thus he needs a penalty. Obviously if he left the track prior to the manouver it has to rationally be assessed whether doing so aided his momentum to get by or not.

It’s a tricky issue to define a rule against. I think they just have to use common sense to determine if an advantage has been made at any moment during the whole overtaking manouver. This is another reason the driver steward is so important to this decision, as they’ll undoubtedly know more about the situation in reality as opposed to just theory.

@nick-uk I completely agree that allowing such moves as a rule would completely leave such a thing open to abuse. Like you said while they were right to penalise him this time, but similar moves in the past have not been penalised. I think is where Ricciardo’s move and penalty has generated such controversy. It needs clarification, even if this is difficult to do.

I’m all for your common sense approach, but I think one of the main flaws in the current steward system is that such a common-sense approach might be applied in completely different ways depending on the steward. This might put us back to square one where there’s widely diverse application, exactly what we have here! I guess if anything this incident has shown that there’s a serious flaw in the driver steward system.

My initial reaction was the same as yours @hohum . I believe the only reason he passed Sutil was because he so badly overcooked the corner. To me the off track excursion was the final part of the passing move and I can see why the stewards took action. That’s why teams should be proactive in giving back a place or at least check with race control to see if there is a potential problem. If you wait for the stewards, then you are at the mercy of their whims.

It’s quite simple. Ask yourself this: If there was a gravel trap and not tarmac run off area would Ricciardo made that move? And if he did and went off the track, what would happen to Ricciardo and his car?
Penalty!

@jcost My guess is they want one more year out of him. With the regulation changes for next year, a time when having lots of top engineering brains could be crucial in solving problems and making the most of the strategy options. After things settle down I’m sure that it’ll be a mutual agreement to leave.

If I were Brawn I think I’d stick it out for one final year. There’s a chance Mercedes could develop a car and engine which hits the sweet spot and dominates for part or all of the year again and everyone will shower Brawn with praise for “doing it again”. On the other hand if it turns out that someone else gets it right I don’t think Brawn will suffer too much negative sentiment (unless it’s a real dog of a car running round at the back). It’s an unbalanced risk in his favour.

@jaymenon10 if that’s true, Williams will have the chance to hit back and to getinto the midfield in a couple of seasons. To recover their early-2000 level (when they were competitive again, after a short time in the midfield) will be much more difficult, I guess.

Yeah..both Mclaren and Williams needs a bit of a jolt..a Ross could prove to be that. However, I doubt he will got to Mclaren, for some reason I dont see it as fit for Ross. He wants to be in total control, and I dont think Woking is a place for that.

If I remember correctly, in the same conversation on Sky, the guys were saying Ross could move to Williams as a shareholder as well…thats not a stretch of the imagination. Williams need money, and they need leadership…which they appear to be lacking just now.

Good points and probably why Brawn wants to make sure he has the control he wants at Merc or he’s gone. I think you are right, Williams could be a good fit. It would be great to see him bring his talents to Williams and take on such a worthy challenge.

I really hope you are joking…. Peter Prodromou is one of the most highly regarded aerodynamicists in the business…. He’s been responsible for many design innovations and design process innovations. With relatively limited budgets he produced some aerodynamically efficient Jaguar’s.

If you ever get the chance, you should read the piece he wrote in an old F1 racing magazine regarding the Jaguar R3, and use of pressure sensitive paint…

@magicgorilla @chetan chotan
of course I’m joking :-) As a matter of fact, you should probably assume that I’m joking pretty much the whole time. I was more referencing the silly Newey worship that goes on, as if he designs the cars alone, than I was trying to put PP down. Having walked through the offices on a tour, I know first hand how big that department is and how late they were working.
Thanks, I’ll try and look up that article, I have quite a collection of the magazine.

@jcost
No wonder that Peter’s office is next to the office of Adrian in the Red Bull factory, I remember Martin Brundel saying that the F1 dream team for him is Fernando Alonso & Lewis Hamilton managed by Ross Brawn, Well since Ferrari has dropped their NÂ°1 driver policy i can see this happening in 2016

Personally for me, these are the possibilities for Brawn, from most likely to least likely.
1. Move to Honda as their F1 boss. That will give him entire control over their engine program.
2. Retire and leave F1 altogether. He’s had health problems in the past after all.
3. Stay at Mercedes as team principal.
4. Move to Williams as their new team principal. It would have a similar split as he had at Honda with Nick Fry – Ross will handle the racing side, while Claire Williams will handle the commercial side.
5. Move to McLaren in a “shadow team principal” role. It would have a similar split as described in #4, but Martin Whitmarsh would retain the “team principal” title.

Forgive me for not bemusing you with an illuminating perspective on the articles above, but I’m sure you’d all permit me a solemn few words on the late Sean Edwards who was killed yesterday. At the time of his death he was one of the finest GT drivers in circulation, and right up there with Stefan Mucke, Frederic Makoweicki, Darren Turner, Rene Rast and Jamie Campbell-Walter. He was also staring a Porsche Supercup championship in the face, which is a championship that has arguably lost some of its status, but the facts are these, he is still comfortably leading the championship, and he won the Monaco round of the Supercup by over 20 seconds. He was killed when his career was on an exponential upward curve. In addition to his Porsche triumphs, he won both the Nurburgring and the Dubai 24 hours this year. And that is what has gutted me most by this news; the promise of what could have been. So there you have him, the excellent young racing driver that was, Sean Edwards: 1986-2013.

@keithcollantine great article on time zones. It really shows the level of organization of F1 teams.

Personally, when I fly to different time zones (over 4 hour difference) I try to adjust the day before by sleeping less if I’m arriving at night or waking up later and sleeping the most I can while aboard if I’m arriving in the morning.